Dealership Hall of Shame

FauxPaw

Badlands
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There is a similar thread in the Bronco6G forums and after my recent experience I feel it would be beneficial to create one here specific to Bronco Sport orders.

I ordered my BS Badlands from Sunrise Ford of North Hollywood in March after test driving a Badlands model they had in stock. They tried to sell me that model after tacking on a $12000 ADM and $3000 in dealer add-ons (VIN etching, LoJack, 3M paint protection, etc.) I declined and placed a custom order after confirming with the salesman and the internet sales director that it would not be subject to ADM and they would not install the "optional" add-ons that the dealer stock example had. I also showed them the $1000 bonus cash offer that was available at the time for custom orders and they confirmed that I would receive that upon delivery, which the salesman later confirmed in writing.

Fast forward to July 6th, the internet sales director calls me to let me know that my car has arrived at the dealership and will be ready to pick up as soon as they make sure it wasn't damaged in transit. I ask him again to make sure that none of the dealer add-ons are installed as I'm not interested and he responded in the affirmative.

When I went in to pick up the vehicle on Sunday, they had of course installed all the add-ons against my wishes. I was able to talk them into removing a shifter lockout keypad they had installed above the shift knob but nothing else could be removed, a non-negotiable total of $2185 in extra cost. In addition, they were "unable" to find the bonus cash offer when they ran a Smart Vincent report and refused to honor the $1000 order incentive, stating that the best thing they could do was call Ford the next day to see what happened. I provided a screenshot that I had taken of the offer from the time I ordered the car as well as the communication from the salesman that promised me the order incentive would be applied.

I escalated to the internet sales director and the sales manager, who expressed that he would be happy to have me walk so they could sell the car to someone else the next day. I called and sent an email on Tuesday after not hearing back from them on Monday, when they said they would update me. I received a curt email response that simply said "You did not receive the offer from Ford. We cannot offer you that extra rebate." They have since ceased responding to me after I asked if they would be willing to give any sort of good faith credit or discount and if they would be able to confirm that I will receive the price protection from Ford since the MSRP increased after I placed the order.

Throughout the process, the staff were unapologetic and offered nothing to make up for their dishonesty.

If anyone else has had negative experiences with dealerships, I would encourage you to share them in this thread so that others might be able to avoid them.
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Mark S.

Badlands
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I'm convinced asshole dealerships add in the extras after saying they wouldn't on purpose. They are hoping, hoping, hoping they can piss off the customer who ordered the vehicle enough that they'll walk so they can mark it up. If you have signed agreements you should contact an attorney immediately. Sometimes all it takes is a letter from someone with the right amount of horsepower to jerk a jerk back in line.
 

Adam CW

Badlands
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Wisconsin
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2022 Bronco Sport Badlands
There is a similar thread in the Bronco6G forums and after my recent experience I feel it would be beneficial to create one here specific to Bronco Sport orders.

I ordered my BS Badlands from Sunrise Ford of North Hollywood in March after test driving a Badlands model they had in stock. They tried to sell me that model after tacking on a $12000 ADM and $3000 in dealer add-ons (VIN etching, LoJack, 3M paint protection, etc.) I declined and placed a custom order after confirming with the salesman and the internet sales director that it would not be subject to ADM and they would not install the "optional" add-ons that the dealer stock example had. I also showed them the $1000 bonus cash offer that was available at the time for custom orders and they confirmed that I would receive that upon delivery, which the salesman later confirmed in writing.

Fast forward to July 6th, the internet sales director calls me to let me know that my car has arrived at the dealership and will be ready to pick up as soon as they make sure it wasn't damaged in transit. I ask him again to make sure that none of the dealer add-ons are installed as I'm not interested and he responded in the affirmative.

When I went in to pick up the vehicle on Sunday, they had of course installed all the add-ons against my wishes. I was able to talk them into removing a shifter lockout keypad they had installed above the shift knob but nothing else could be removed, a non-negotiable total of $2185 in extra cost. In addition, they were "unable" to find the bonus cash offer when they ran a Smart Vincent report and refused to honor the $1000 order incentive, stating that the best thing they could do was call Ford the next day to see what happened. I provided a screenshot that I had taken of the offer from the time I ordered the car as well as the communication from the salesman that promised me the order incentive would be applied.

I escalated to the internet sales director and the sales manager, who expressed that he would be happy to have me walk so they could sell the car to someone else the next day. I called and sent an email on Tuesday after not hearing back from them on Monday, when they said they would update me. I received a curt email response that simply said "You did not receive the offer from Ford. We cannot offer you that extra rebate." They have since ceased responding to me after I asked if they would be willing to give any sort of good faith credit or discount and if they would be able to confirm that I will receive the price protection from Ford since the MSRP increased after I placed the order.

Throughout the process, the staff were unapologetic and offered nothing to make up for their dishonesty.

If anyone else has had negative experiences with dealerships, I would encourage you to share them in this thread so that others might be able to avoid them.
I think any Ford dealership operating like that in northeast Wisconsin would very quickly go out of business.

I have never had anything like that happen to me. They have actually been very honest.

Is that kind of behavior common in Los Angeles?
 
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FauxPaw

FauxPaw

Badlands
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I think any Ford dealership operating like that in northeast Wisconsin would very quickly go out of business.

I have never had anything like that happen to me. They have actually been very honest.

Is that kind of behavior common in Los Angeles?
I don't know how common this behavior is. From what I've heard, the ownership of the Sunrise Ford dealerships in Los Angeles and Fontana changed pretty recently and that change brought in this sort of experience. I think the most ironic part is that the slogan on their business cards is "Where Integrity Has Meaning."
 

nhchemist

Badlands
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We ordered a BS BL from Wall's Ford in Salisbury, MA in January. They honored the $1500 Ford rebate, but added the VIN etching at $199 without our OK. They are dead to me now for any service that I may need. They have a quick profit and a long term loss as I will go elsewhere for service.
 


SportWest

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I'm not trying to excuse asshole dealerships, but why isn't FoMoCo preventing this? If a customer orders something "factory direct" via a dealership, then they should get what they paid for, at that price, no dealership profit-padding crap added. Maybe the dealership laws prohibit a "heavy hand" but I'm sure Ford could use some "soft power" to put an end to all this.
 

Bill G

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I’m “glad” to hear that Sunrise Ford in Hollywood hasn’t improved since 1983. I ordered a Bronco to spec from them and waited the 8 weeks for delivery. It was ordered as a fully loaded, top trim level, vehicle. What they delivered to me on a Friday evening after “prep” was a base Bronco, with a bolt through a rear tire, a qt low on oil, and nearly empty differentials.
I had sold my old vehicle, was driving a loaner, and they told me “tough titty” — I could take it or reorder and wait, my choice; oh and by the way the Ford rebate had ended so I would have to pay $1000 more if I reordered.
we had a big fight and they finally agreed to add a carpet kit and headliner to the vehicle — which they screwed up the installation.
 

RS1

Big Bend
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Hey Ford bot. What say you? Besides send me your vin? Crickets

Sad to hear of nhchemist ordeal at Walls. We bought our Explorer there and couldn’t have been treated any nicer.
 

MJE

Badlands
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I think any Ford dealership operating like that in northeast Wisconsin would very quickly go out of business.

I have never had anything like that happen to me. They have actually been very honest.

Is that kind of behavior common in Los Angeles?
Maybe it’s a Midwest sort of thing, but same experience here. Nothing short of honest. X-Plan? No prob. Price protection? No prob. Discount (it was $500 here)? No prob. None of it I actually had to ask for, it was all just done.

Advantage Ford knew where things were every step of the way, even if I knew first from spending too much time on this forum. Until it got to rail tracking, which I couldn’t be bothered to do. But my dealer? Knew exactly where the car was in transit & updated me.

Honestly some of yall’s experiences with dealerships here really make me shake my head. I know my dealer gave me less on my trade than they could have and they sold me on a 3rd party warranty. I knew both were coming as their way to make any profit off the sale, but there was nothing underhanded or dishonest about any of it. It just is what it is. Honestly I could really recommend them to anyone looking up here.
 

Jumbo1953

Badlands
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Jim
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I would highly recommend Reineke Ford of Tiffin, Ohio. I ordered and purchased my Badlands with no markup and a $500 rebate. The fact that they have an A+ service department is the icing on the cake.
 


WildFord

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Holy crap! I would pretty pissed off if I waited 6+ months and that happens.

I’m glad I did not order from Sunrise Ford. I saw their advertisement for ordering at MSRP after I ordered from Villa Ford of Orange. But now I’m deathly afraid same thing will happen to me.

they have berthing to gain and nothing to lose when they do this except for maybe a little of bad reviews somewhere like here or Yelp or Google.

how can we prevent this from happening again?

also, this list needs to be on a spreadsheet or something to it is easier to look up state by state. I saw the Toyota forum has one. It can pinned on top of the menu easily available. Can we do that at least??
 

GulfCoastBronco

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This is terrible. I hate to hear of these things. And shocked the Ford rep on this forum is absent on these types of threads. Access Ford in Corpus has done me right. I walked on 2 Broncos that had ADM. sales person sent me pics of two Bronco Sports being backed off the truck. And said, keys in my hand without being sent to processing, no ADM until I hear from you. I left work early had 2 to pick from. Went with OB over Base. Have also recently confirmed no mark up or ADM when order banks open as I’m stupidly considering a 2-door Black Diamond.
I hope everyone can find an honest dealer and an amazing Bronco
 

Bill G

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Addendum to my earlier post (#7 above). My dealings with Sunrise Ford in Fontana have been perfect. I’ve purchased from them twice and both times got a great deal with no hassle. They did everything right; good price, offered all the rebates, were honest about trade in, and didn’t try to up-sell warranties or add-ons.
Funny how two dealerships, probably with same ownership, can be sooo different.
 

Mark S.

Badlands
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And shocked the Ford rep on this forum is absent on these types of threads.
My guess is that FoMoCo's contracts (likely governed by Federal, State, and Local laws) prevent it from publicly intervening in cases like this, but I've read that Ford's CEO has threatened misbehaving dealers with allocation limits.

I think the best way to keep the assholery to a minimum is to keep the pressure on by publicizing these incidents as must as possible. I tipped off FordAuthority.com (there's a link on their site) about this incident. We should send this out to every automotive news org we can think of. I believe this will not only force dealerships to behave, but it will also tell Ford that customers have a voice too. The internet is a great tool for this kind of thing; let's use it.
 

thekingprawn

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they have berthing to gain and nothing to lose when they do this except for maybe a little of bad reviews somewhere like here or Yelp or Google.
Actually they could lose their ability to custom order vehicles if they fall below the name match threshold Ford has instituted. Ford also reduced to a very small number the exceptions allowed to name match. They essentially have to sell it to the person who ordered it or Ford will put the screws to them up to expulsion from the name match and integrity policy. As Ford moves away from selling from stock to majority customer orders that will put dealerships in more the category of facilitators of orders rather than sellers of stock merchandise. Here's the latest story on the name match changes.

That said, dealerships aren't fully on board with this yet. They will still try to get away with everything they can. They have an enormous knowledge advantage over the customer. The very best thing one can do is go armed with knowledge, and even that may not be enough. There will still be shenanigans. My idiot dealership pulled the "accessories package we do to every vehicle" BS (paint protection and nitrogen in the tires for $500) and I was told to calm down when I confronted them about it. Result: $500 of accessories of my choosing. If I'm paying, I'm picking.

Ultimately I got what I ordered in a reasonable amount of time and at the agreed upon price, but the only reason I got the price is because I came with documentation on Ford's price protection program that has been in place on retail orders for 6 years. Some dealerships are getting better. Some, like in the OP, will go out of business when Ford only lets them have limited configurations of limited trim levels of a limited number of stock vehicles.
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